NEW YORK – Aaron Judge will return to the Yankees lineup, but CC Sabathia will be held back from starting on Wednesday, in a 1:05 p.m. a single-admission doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians.

A day before Tuesday night’s Indians-Yankees game was rained out at Yankee Stadium, manager Joe Girardi already had informed Sabathia that he’d now start the four-game series opener against the AL East-leading Red Sox on Thursday night.

And that Bronx series will be the last regular-season meeting between the rivals in 2017.

“It does seem weird that we’re not going to play them (the rest of) September,’’ Sabathia said. “I’ve never been a part of that … in nine years (as a Yankee).’’

In the Yanks’ refigured rotation, Sabathia will be followed by Sonny Gray, Masahiro Tanaka and Luis Severino against the Red Sox.

Yankees rookie Jordan Montgomery will be recalled to start Wednesday’s second game, against call-up Ryan Merritt. Fellow Yankees lefty Jaime Garcia will oppose Trevor Bauer in the opener; their original matchup was postponed on Tuesday night.

The struggling Judge was already scheduled to get a second straight night off on Tuesday.

But Girardi said he would “absolutely’’ start Judge in one of Wednesday’s doubleheader games, following that 48-hour physical and mental break prescribed by the manager.

“You hope it just refreshes a guy and they can sit back and relax and maybe take a little bit off their plate and they can get going again,’’ Girardi said of Judge’s respite. “I can’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen, but physically I think he’s going to feel a lot fresher than he probably did.

“And you hope, mentally, he does too.’’

Since Judge’s MVP-worthy first half, batting .329 with 30 homers and 66 RBI in 84 games, the right-handed slugger has hit just .179 with seven homers and 16 RBI in 41 games after the All-Star break.

“I think mechanically, he’s off and we are doing everything we can to get him back on track,’’ said Girardi, who has dismissed the large, postgame ice wrap Judge has lately worn on his left shoulder as maintenance and nothing limiting.

Montgomery (7-6, 4.00 ERA, 23 MLB starts) has no physical issues, though he’s been subjected to an innings limitation. His last start, last Thursday for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, was kept to three innings.

However, “there won’t be a whole lot of restrictions on him,’’ Girardi said. “We’ll watch him because he has not been to 100 pitches lately…but he was throwing the ball well here before.’’

By contrast, Garcia (0-1, 5.95) hasn’t won any of his four Yankees starts since being traded from Minnesota. Garcia hasn’t made it through six innings in any of those starts, and now he’s been bumped from the Red Sox series.

“I think they’re all big, any time we play them, especially now,’’ Sabathia said in general of the final set against the Sox. “We’re chasing them, it’s always a big deal.’’

Both Tanaka (arm fatigue) and Sabathia (right knee inflammation) have pitched well since coming off the 10-day disabled list earlier this month. For Sabathia especially, it feels like an unexpected second chance.

“Because I didn’t know that night, leaving Toronto (Aug. 8) what the case would be,’’ Sabathia said. “To be able to be here and be healthy and trying to help the team win feels great.’’

Briefs

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is scheduled to attend Shohei Otani’s start on Aug. 31 in Japan. Limited by right ankle and left hamstring issues this season the star right-handed pitcher/left-handed slugger might be posted for MLB teams to bid this fall.

Girardi said he’s told Chase Headley to be ready to play first base, third base and at designated hitter down the stretch.

First baseman Greg Bird’s presence has crowded the picture, but Headley is slashing .313/.394/.522 since July 20 and Girardi still values third baseman Todd Frazier’s production (21 HR, 60 RBI in 118 games) and above-average glove to keep him playing regularly.